This article is better than
for launching lunch. Heck, I think this qualifies for the Linda Blair in The Exorcist Bile Hurl Alert!
Posted on 05/25/2007 4:43:02 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Some people just don't like Mexicans -- or anyone else from south of the border. They think Latinos are freeloaders and welfare cheats who are too lazy to learn English. They think Latinos have too many babies, and that Latino kids will dumb down our schools. They think Latinos are dirty, diseased, indolent and more prone to criminal behavior. They think Latinos are just too different from us ever to become real Americans.
No amount of hard, empirical evidence to the contrary, and no amount of reasoned argument or appeals to decency and fairness, will convince this small group of Americans -- fewer than 10 percent of the general population, at most -- otherwise. Unfortunately, among this group is a fair number of Republican members of Congress, almost all influential conservative talk radio hosts, some cable news anchors -- most prominently, Lou Dobbs -- and a handful of public policy "experts" at organizations such as the Center for Immigration Studies, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, NumbersUSA, in addition to fringe groups like the Minuteman Project.
Stripped bare, this is what the current debate on immigration reform is all about. Fear of "the other" -- of those who look or sound different, who come from poor countries with unfamiliar customs -- has been at the heart of every immigration debate this country has ever had, from the infamous Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 to the floor of the U.S. Senate this week.
What is said today of the Mexicans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans and others was once said of Germans, Swedes, the Irish, Italians, Poles, Jews and others. The only difference is that in the past, the xenophobes could speak freely, unconstrained by a veneer of political correctness. Today, they speak more cautiously, so they talk about the rule of law, national security, amnesty, whatever else they think might make their arguments less racially charged.
Where once the xenophobes could advocate forced sterilization and eugenics coupled with virtually shutting off legal immigration from "undesirable" countries, now they must be content with building walls, putting troops on the border, rounding up illegal aliens on the job and deporting them, passing local ordinances to signal their distaste for immigrants' multi-family living arrangements, and doing whatever else they can to drive these people back where they came from.
There is no chance this small group of xenophobes will succeed -- ultimately. The victories of their predecessors have been short-lived and so obviously wrong-headed we've always finally abandoned them, from modifying and then repealing the Asian exclusion acts to scrapping the nationalities quotas. But we need to quit pretending that the "No Amnesty" crowd is anything other than what it is: a tiny group of angry, frightened and prejudiced loudmouths backed by political opportunists who exploit them.
The status quo -- largely turning a blind eye toward the 12 million illegal aliens who work, pay taxes and keep their noses clean, while stepping up border enforcement and selective internal enforcement -- may not be the worst possible outcome in the current debate on immigration reform. It is the coward's way out of our current dilemma. But there are other problems with allowing the xenophobes to derail comprehensive immigration reform.
We've struggled long and hard as a nation to overcome our prejudices, enduring a Civil War and countless dead for the right to be judged by the content of our character not the color of our skin or where we came from. Our country is the greatest, freest, most powerful and optimistic nation in the history of the world -- and our people are good, decent, fair and the hardest working anywhere. That is why immigrants -- even those who look and sound different, from nearby and far away -- come here, often with only the clothes on their backs but a fire in their bellies to succeed. They make all of us richer, and by embracing and welcoming them, we make ourselves better.
Is this the Chavez who was to be a GWB Cabinet member?
And this:
There is no chance this small group of xenophobes will succeed — ultimately. The victories of their predecessors have been short-lived and so obviously wrong-headed we’ve always finally abandoned them, from modifying and then repealing the Asian exclusion acts to scrapping the nationalities quotas. But we need to quit pretending that the “No Amnesty” crowd is anything other than what it is: a tiny group of angry, frightened and prejudiced loudmouths backed by political opportunists who exploit them.
Is nonsensical at rather insulting actually, this woman is not too bright, on the level of the Chambliss staffer who called people who oppose the amnesty bill “ignorant”.
It is always instructive when a person cannot assail your facts, they attack your character, “loudmouthed and prejudiced”
Hmm unlike Ms. Chavez, traitorous isn’t included in that list, I would submit that she first needs to clean up her own sell america down the river position, before she attacks members of her own party with such slander.
Pitiful really, they are getting very very desperate aren’t they?
You may be right in some instances but the difference here is the Democrates will keep you uneducated and dependent upon them for services, so you will be their voting block for years to come. The fact remains you are entering this country dirt poor, un educated, and unable to contribute anything at all. This I call a burden, and why should we take on a monumental task like this when some of us are struggling now to pay for programs, handouts and services we are not entitled to. I wonder how many terrorists will be applying for Z visa’s Mr Bush? you take one step forward and two steps back, I don’t get it!
I share your dissapointment with her. Ethnicity is a cheap and easy weapon to use in a country that’s as hysterical about it as ours is.
Odd. Many of the strongest opponents of *illegal* immigration I know are some flavor of Hispanic.
My real point is the ease with which people in this country can use race (any race) to demagogue an issue. Demagogues continue to use it because it works so well.
WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! WRITE! TILL YOU RUN OUT OF INK IN YOUR PEN!
Bombard the Democrats as well, especially the ones that ran on an anti immigration plank and the ones in marginal districts who could be vulnerable. keep pounding on them.
“Some people just can’t get their pea brains around the ‘illegal’ side.”
Don’t be too hard on them. It’s not their fault “illegal” isn’t in the Newspeak Dictionary.
“Fear of ‘the other’ — of those who look or sound different, who come from poor countries with unfamiliar customs — has been at the heart of every immigration debate this country has ever had...”
Yeah, that’s right...we want to stop illegal immigration because we’re xenophobes. Whoever believes that one probably also believes dems want them to be able to vote because they’re worried about “civil liberties.”
What an asshat. We are supposed to embrace law breaking criminals with a smile. If you don’t want people pouring into the states illegally then you are racist./SAR No agenda here is there?
“What a bunch of crapola. From our side no less.”
She isn’t on “our side”. She never was on “our side”.
As an American, I cannot buy property in Mexico.
As an American, I cannot protest in Mexico.
As an American, I cannot vote in Mexico. Fox even believes in a concept of dual nationality for legal Mexican immigrants to the US.
The illegal immigrants can do all of these things in Estados Unidos and declare that “they” have shown tolerance to the gringos in Aztlan.
Sort of the same double standards at work when the Saudis fund the construction of new mosques in America while no other religion than Islam is permitted back home. Jews cannot even enter Saudi Arabia and there are cities that non-muslims are forbidden to enter under penalty of death.
Change the policies of these countries and I might be more open to these concepts.
Some of those with “unfamiliar customs” are unfamiliar with indoor plumbing and good hygiene. And this is true of third world immigrants from all continents.
Not a wise decision to have them working in kitchens doing food prep and sanitation, especially when they have not been screened for diseases.
You can be “Latino” but they are ultimately concerned about which country you came from and what politics you spout today.
I saw campaign signs in a local “non-partisan” mayoral election that declared the Cuban born Republican candidate Orlando Sanchez was “anti-Hispanic” and these were placed in Mexican heritage neighborhoods by DNC brownshirts.
As Rush has pointed out some black activists’ problem with Obama, he’s not “down with the struggle” and comes from “the wrong” background (some black pastors have even spoken out against his white mother).
We love ya Linda, but it is not about disliking brown people. It is about an orderly process and waiting your turn in line. It is about people coming in here who will embrace America, learn our language, and become part of the melting pot. That is America.
Well said. Thank you.
This article is better than
for launching lunch. Heck, I think this qualifies for the Linda Blair in The Exorcist Bile Hurl Alert!
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